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This blog is about gaming, but D&D is top on my list, from D&D 5e, Pathfinder to good old AD&D 1e (where my roots come from!). I'm an Evil DM, I have been for many years, to the point folks enjoy my games and style but fear things in game. Paranoia is great and fuels a lot of awesome roleplaying situations with characters in game. Have a question? Feel free to contact me for advice about 1e, 5e or Pathfinder - ASKTHEDM(@)THEEVILDM(.)COM

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Another email came into the "Ask a DM" email box, by "Ralph", as that's how it was marked on the email form that asked me a question about Monsters, their stats and encounters. Mostly asking me if I reference the book during a game, hand write them/print them on a sheet a paper. He was having trouble with encounters and wanted to know what's his best option and what should he do to keep it easy for him? also wants to know, when should he throw encounters at his group?

On the After Dark Show for the Pocket Mimic Podcast, Myself, Sal and Zac, spoke about designing up quest items for your campaign in some detail, here is the items broken down for you to use during your games if you'd like!

Got a question today from someone named "Kind of Matthew Mercer but Ginger" in the old email box asking advice about the healing system, death blows and how his players are using the heal for 1 hp to bring a character back from death saving throws.

Something that has always bugged me in D&D and this dates back to the days of playing D&D in the '80s, but its more of a thing since the "MMO/video gamer generation" (let's go with that for now) has moved into playing D&D, was that all their stats have to be high, and anything less then having a +2 modifier on your stats was a "waste of time".

A question was asked to me today (via email at the top) about writing up custom spells and the person was worried about if the spell already existed, not so much to save him time or work, but because he didn't want to be unoriginal in his spell idea.
I said to him to get more information, "if you have an idea in your head, why not just talk to your DM, work with him and make a custom spell to the way YOU like it?"

Exploring ideas for creepy monsters today when I was looking at the mirror... yep, I'll wait for the jokes. *looks around, then down waiting for insults*
Anyhow, I was looking at the mirror and then I thought about the Evil Dead 2 movie, in the scene where Ash was looking at himself and then the reflection comes to life grabbing him by the shoulders.

This weekend when we sit down to record the Pocket Mimic Podcast, after we do the main show, we will be sitting down to do the After Dark show, and we will be talking about, Designing up a item worth questing for, along with trying to throw up a seed or two for using that item in your campaign.

This week on the Pocket Mimic Podcast, After Dark Show #8 I sat down with Sal and spoke about designing a familiar or a pet for a character in game. So for this show I quickly grabbed an old favorite of mine, the WAR CHICKEN! I explained the backstory of how it was created and how I used her for the player's character.

First I want to say, I think online gaming is a great tool for gaming and while its been around for a long time, in these last few years, playing on line has become so easy, its almost the same experience as sitting at table with your friends in person playing the game. DM's can post up their game, allow people to read up on the game and decide if they want to join based on the DM's rules.

Haven’t really updated in a while, been very busy with
life, the podcasts I am doing and actually gaming on a weekly basis.
I have a lot of things going on and coming down the pipe,
but something today I read online, really resonated with me, and it brewed in
my head while driving to work.

I've been getting a lot of questions about podcasting and D&D 5e from twitter and my personal social media sites. I try to answer them all, but sometimes I am at work and I forget or that question gets lost in the shuffle of social media.

Today we are talking a look at a product from the DM's Guild called, Improved Round Table Initiative by a guest poster on this blog. Let's call her "IDGAF" for now..... until she decides on a name, which I am sure she will.
I'll admit to having done some things to make combat go quicker. I DM a big group, and some of the players can get a bit distracted on their turns. We’ve implemented time limits with a default Dodge action, I plan on having initiative tracker cards at our next session. Even with those, sometimes I feel like the turns go a bit long on some players, but we’re working on it. For those DM’s that are having problems keeping track of initiative and want to streamline combat a bit more, Improved Round Table Initiative could be one of those options.

A couple of days ago, I took look at a really cool tool for a DM by Nerzagul called, "The Dungeon Master Toolkit". Feel free to go take a look that before reading this, don't worry I will wait. Done? Good! Well today is a follow up, as I found out Nerzugal released a new toolkit on RPGNOW, now named the GAME MASTER TOOLKIT and he's released this new one under the OGL version 1.0a.

Today I am going to take a look at a great resource for DM’s, Nerzugal’s Dungeon Master Toolkit. I’m sure quite a few people already know about this product – Heck it’s a Platinum Best Seller on the DM’s Guild site – but it’s PACKED with 100 pages of juicy goodness for Dungeon Masters of new and old to get something useful out of it.

For those that have been wondering, "Where is the Wisdom bonus modifier chart?" and "What's the incentive for Clerics putting a high score in Wisdom and not using it as a dump stat?" The answer is here and will be included in the new errata for the book.

This an idea I got after in my head after playing at someone's house, we had limited space at the small table, and people kept having to shuffle papers of their character sheet with their note pad and books.

Audio Entertainment!

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What's this Blog about?Nothing is as it seems in my games, so feel free to show up in my game with your books and TRY to rules lawyer me, it will only result in another character soul taken. Remember you are the Dungeon Master and ANYTHING can be done as long as you can dream it up because you rule the game, not the other way around! IF the book doesn't list it, doesn't mean its not possible, think folks, you are the DM, do as you please, its your world! Over 1000+ character souls taken as of this date!